A Tragedy in Pakistan...That Caused Me to Get Up at 4am This Morning.

I DON’T LIKE MORNINGS

I admit it: I am a night person. My wife is a morning person. I try so hard to get up early. To me, “mornings hurt!” When we fly east, which is often, I have to be up around 3am, to leave the house by 4am. The first 15 minutes of getting up are, well, painful.
 
But today, I got up at 4am, and did so happily. Why? Because my little pain of getting up early was nothing compared to the pain in Pakistan.

TWO REMARKABLE MEN
 
I was ask to speak briefly on a zoom call to about 200 persons in Jaranwala, Pakistan. I first talked to my host, Joel Amir Sahotra. I initially met Joel in Brussels in December of last year. We became friends. He is now our Well Versed Representative to Pakistan. Joel was a member of the government. You can watch him, as far back as 2012, trying to defend Christians against persecution here.
 
The second person I talked to via zoom was Tristan Azbej, the Hungarian State Secretary under Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary. We first met him in 2019, as I recall, and have been with him several times since then. 
 
To my knowledge, Hungary is the only country in the world which has an almost cabinet level position assigned to find Christians anywhere in the world and try to rescue them. Frankly, Prime Minister Viktor Orban and State Secretary Tristan Azbej are heroes to me. He has become a good friend. I had the privilege of connecting Tristan to Joel so they could meet today in Pakistan. 
 
But the reason I got up at 4am my time in California to talk to them at 4pm in Pakistan (they are exactly 12 hours ahead of Pacific Time) was not simply to visit with two great men. I got up to talk via Zoom to a group of persecuted Christians.
 
To those of you reading this in the comfort of your home, my brothers and sisters, we are witnessing an almost global outbreak of hostility towards people who follow Jesus.

THE JOLTING 25 SECONDS FROM AMBASSADOR SAM BROWNBACK

Another good friend is Sam Brownback. (We were both once Kansas farm boys.) As you likely know, this talented man was the Kansas Secretary of Agriculture, then Member of the U.S. House of Representatives, then a U.S. Senator, then the Governor of Kansas, then the U.S. Ambassador for Religious Liberty-at-large (global). 
 
I interviewed him recently. I want to you listen to just 25 seconds so you can hear the jolting thing he said from the 12 minute, 40 second mark to the 13 minute, 5 second mark in this interview here.  
 
What? Did I hear that right? We have made five times more effort to help persecuted Christians, yet the persecution has increased 10 times during that duration. How is this even possible?
 
I cannot get through a day without hearing of more persecution of more Christians from some country.

YOU HAVE LIKELY NOT HEARD ABOUT JARANWALA, NOR EVEN KNOW WHERE IT IS.

Please see and understand these three maps.

"What Happened in Jaranwala
"According to the preliminary report “FIR” filed by the police, two Christian citizens are accused of uttering insulting words about the Prophet of Islam and desecrating the Holy Quran in Cinema Chowk of Jaranwala.
 
"It has been stated in the FIR that when the police reached the Cinema Chowk of Jaranwala after receiving information about the incident, there were papers of the Quran on which insulting words were written in red pen, while the accused fled from the spot. An angry mob gathered outside the local church after the incident, several people in the crowd started vandalizing the church and later set it on fire.
 
"Christian Assistant Commissioner was removed
"Several people in the mob also ransacked the office of the Assistant Commissioner, who is also a Christian and was later transferred from his post by the government. While the people of the Christian community living in the area fled from their homes.
 
"Stance of the Police
"Whereas the Inspector General of Punjab Police Usman Anwar told the media that local peace committees have been formed to control the situation. The police registered a First Information Report (FIR) bearing No 1258/23 against the accused Christian man under Sections 295B (Desecration of Holy Quran, etc.) and 295C (Using insulting words against the Prophet of Islam) of the Pakistan penal code (PPC).
 
"Arrest of Christian brothers
"Lahore Police arrested the accused Christian brothers Raja Amir and Rocky Saleem on Wednesday night. On the 18th, the Judicial Magistrate gave a 7-day remand to the local police for further investigation. Following the violence, at least 150 Muslims were arrested overnight, police said, but more arrests were expected. Police have registered an FIR against unidentified Persons as well the local Muslim leaders identified as Amir Jamaat Ahlesunnat, Mufti Muhammad Younas, and Syed Asifullah Shah Bukhari, the district leader of the Islamist political party Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP). The TLP denied inciting the violence and said it had worked with police to calm things down. However, Younas and Bukhari were among those leading the violent protests. All the area’s 20 churches suffered damage. Several footages showed men taking off a cross from the roof of a church and throwing it onto the ground. Pakistan’s blasphemy laws target religious minorities (including the Muslim minority) but particularly the Christian minority. About a quarter of all blasphemy charges target Christians, the only minority of the population make up 1.8 percent of the total population of Pakistan.
 
"Appeal to the government of Pakistan
"The government of Pakistan should take strict measures to avoid any such incident in the future and at the same time it is the responsibility of the Muslim scholars to educate and guide their fellow Muslims not to take the law into their hands. The Jaranwala Incident is a stark reminder of the fragility of peace and the urgent need for understanding, compassion, and tolerance.
 
"Current Situation of the Christians of Jaranwala
"One year later, Christians suffering from the aftermath of the incident are still seeking justice. While more than 5,000 people were involved in the violence, less than 400 were arrested for their part in the riots. Of the assailants who were arrested, over 225 have been released on bail, including the individual who incited the vast mob attack through the use of a mosque loudspeaker. Discrimination against followers of Jesus within Pakistan’s legal system is always demonstrated by several incidents of the same nature
and content.
 
"For those who’ve lost so much during the attacks, any provision of assistance from the government is almost over. While governing officials stated that relief would be provided to those whose homes were destroyed, the distribution efforts have been plagued with difficulties. For some homes, multiple families were living under the same roof, so payment went only to the more prominent families, leaving some without assistance. Amnesty International reports that 40 percent of the victims are still awaiting desperately needed government compensation.
 
"In addition, many of the affected believers continue to suffer from the psychological and social repercussions of the trauma. Children “still tremble with fear” and have lost their confidence when it comes to interacting with others in the community. Relations between local Christians and Muslims have also become increasingly tense. Some Muslims are refusing to conduct any business with Christians, and a number of believers have lost their jobs."

END OF THE REPORT.
 
Once again, I do not know who the author of this report is, but I am thankful to have a thorough account of what happened.
 
ACTION PLAN
May I ask you to contact your Member of Congress with a short email or phone call?
 
If you are not sure how to contact you Member of Congress, please see this: Find your Representative.
 
You can call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121. Be sure you know the name of your Member of Congress. 
 
Write or call your Member, saying, “I am very concerned about the persecution of Christians in Jaranwala, Pakistan. Would you please ask the U.S. State Department to examine what happened there on August 16, 2023 and is ongoing to this day? Christians are being falsely accused by the Muslim government. The Christian churches and the homes of Christians have been burned. We want to ask the U.S. Government to contact the Pakistani leadership about the persecution of Christians.”  
 
Be courteous. Be kind. 
 
This will take you only a few minutes. If your home and church were being burned, you would so appreciate your Christian brothers and sisters defending you. Please take a moment.
 
Now you understand why I got up at 4am. Even though I am not a “morning person,” I had no right to complain about getting up during what felt like “the middle of the night,” considering the fact that my Christian brothers and sisters in Pakistan were suffering so much.

Blessings,
Dr. Jim Garlow
CEO/Founder
Well Versed

Rosemary Schindler Garlow
Co-Founder
Well Versed